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Ta-Nehisi Coates is a journalist for the Atlantic who blogs mostly about contemporary cultural issues, hip-hop, politics, nerd culture, race relations, video games, journalism, and the American Civil War. (I'm guessing, no statistical averages here.)
How does that work? I think TNC actually explains it in this post. First he responds to Andy Rooney's "I don't know who Lady Gaga is, and kids today probably don't know who Ella Fitzgerald was. Maybe we should call it even" with "I suspect that he gives himself too much credit."
When I was a kid at Howard, I used to go into Ben's Chili Bowl and hit the jukebox. I always played Otis Redding, The JBs, or Sam and Dave. I knew this music for two reasons: 1.) It was what my parents played, and on long road trips their music, not mine, was the soundtrack. It's like being black in America—I knew that part of their world in a way that they could not know mine. 2.) Hip-Hop created a culture of Digging In The Crates. The notion was that digging through crates and crates of records to find a gem was something to be prized.
Whatever you think of the music, no self-respecting hip-hop head, at that time, could ever get away with saying, "Man, I don't be listening to no Ella Fitzgerald!" Your friends would have looked at you like you were crazy. Knowledge—not the kind of ignorance Rooney evinces here—was prized. I remember going into Ben's and the old heads looking over and going, "Son, what you know about that?"
Here's what I knew—when me and Kenyatta took long drives through Maryland, I knew to play Otis Redding, not H-Town. I learned that digging through the crates. I learned that from my parents. But I never said that of course. I just laughed because it was cool and it was funny. But it was also instructional, and here I must apply what I've learned. Perhaps my generation had a monopoly on that kind of knowledge. Maybe young people today really don't know who Ella Fitzgerald is. I don't really know.


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Part of my work is to create Wordpress websites. I usually work on my laptop until I have something good enough to be uploaded to the test server where the client reviews it.
I create a VirtualHost for every new project so I'm always working with a Wordpress installation in a domain that looks like http://local.example.com/
, but when the site is uploaded to the test server (not controlled by me), the domain may end being something like http://testserver.com/arbitrary/path/example/
The problem is that if I add a custom link to a menu that points to, for example, /events/
, it would work fine locally creating a link to http://local.example.com/events/
, but in the test server, the link will point to http://testserver/events/
, which is obviously not right.
What I want is to give the custom link an URL that would work both on my local environment and the test server.
I already handle the problem of changing the home
and siteurl
Wordpress options by:
- changing those settings on the local database
- creating a dump of the database
- update the database on the server
- restoring the local options.
I don't want to use full URLs for the custom links and having to replace those with the server URL every time I need to update the server's database.
For links inside the post content, there is a plugin that solves the problem adding two shortcodes: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/url-shortcodes/, but I haven't been able to find something similar for Custom Links.

subset: commoncrawl


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TechRadar Verdict
- +
Good sound quality
- +
- +
Build quality
- +
Battery life
- -
- -
Small keyboard
Why you can trust TechRadar
From the lime-green rubberised lid to the integrated Harmon/Kardon speakers, the Toshiba NB520-10U is a netbook that demands attention.
Not content to be a standard black business appliance, the Toshiba NB520-10U wants to be the life and soul of the party. It's cooler and louder than the Asus Eee PC and one of the best netbooks worth owning.
The Toshiba comes in a choice of colours; green, blue or brown. Your chosen hue extends to the lid, mouse buttons and speaker edging while the rest of the chassis is solid black. The textured rubber of the lid is pleasant to touch and won't get covered in grubby fingerprints.
There's no flex to be found around the chassis and the netbook is easily light enough to carry around without a problem. There's also a little extra bulk given to the battery compartment so, when open, the netbook is slightly raised at the back giving you a nice typing angle to work with.
The only minor gripes we had with the design was a particularly thick bezel and an awkwardly placed power button that's nestled in the hinge below the centre of the screen. These are some tiny niggles but overall the design of the Toshiba is catching and stylish with a Converse-cool kind of appeal.
Of course, most noticeable are the twin speakers built into the palm rest. They've been developed with Harman/Kardon technology and will reach a genuinely impressive volume for a netbook. We were also impressed with the bass we could get out of it.
The 120GB disk space will likely preclude you from loading your entire music collection onto the hard drive, but if you subscribe to a streaming service like Spotify, the Toshiba would be a great addition to any house party.
If you want to work with this netbook then using the keyboard isn't immediately intuitive as it's packed pretty tightly into the chassis. Frankly, we preferred typing on the Acer Aspire One or Asus Eee PC, but anyone using this netbook regularly will adapt to the feeling of the keys quickly.
The touchpad is neither too responsive nor sluggish and is positioned well – you can use your thumb without your fingers leaving the keyboard. Although, being a netbook, it's a little on the small side.
The standard Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM and Windows 7 Starter OS means this won't rival a laptop for performance. But if you want to browse the web and type out an email while streaming some music, you won't have any problems here.
TechRadar Labs
Battery Eater '05: 220 minutes
Cinebench: 521
3DMark 2006: 151
On top of that, the battery life is exemplary. By far and away the most important feature for a netbook, Toshiba has ensured you won't need to regularly charge and the NB520 lasted for 220 minutes under our barrage of tests.
Advanced features
Toshiba has thrown some nice features into the NB520 to make it an even better choice for a netbook purchase. Plug an MP3 player into the USB port and you can use the Toshiba's speakers to play your music, even when the machine is in standby or switched off.
It also has built in sleep-and-charge facility, so you can charge up a USB device while the laptop is powered down and idle.
This is a netbook a little different from others available and Toshiba has put together a great product – highly recommended for anyone who wants to enjoy their collection of music when they are on the move.
Follow TechRadar Reviews on Twitter: http://twitter.com/techradarreview


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There are properties able to create unique atmospheres, with a strong personality and excellence in service.
There are travelers looking for unique experiences enriched with just what they were imagining.
Italian Collection unites these two worlds.
From small, charming resorts to boutique and luxury hotels in Rome and all italy, from authentic, rustic farmhouses to sophisticated design hotels, Italian Collection features only the best locations and accommodations in Italy.
The goal of Italian Collection is to represent in each category and in each type of accommodation the epitome of excellence. Each property has been hand picked by us after exhaustive research and, as we personally know the managers and owners, we can ensure the highest standard of hospitality.
Browse our portfolio and discover our collections. Travel as you feel, with Italian Collection.


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Hugin Projection tab
Projection Tab
This tab is for adjusting projection of the panorama; some projections have adjustable parameters which will appear when selected.
This doesn't change any input image parameters; it just readjusts the output Field of View such that all the input images are visible. If the images are all off-centre, then there will be a lot of black space.
Field of View
This is the horizontal and vertical angle of view of the output image.
Use the drop down list to change the output projection of the panorama. Note that for some projections, the scroll-bar sliders to change the Field of View are disabled. If you are having trouble, switch to Equirectangular Projection, adjust the field of view and switch back.
Guides display "helping" lines in your preview to determine whether your panorama follows some basic rules with regard to the composition. Some well known guides are for example the "Rules of thirds" and the "Golden ratio" (also called "golden section").


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End of the Rainbow
Hot fun in the summertime is here, and it's flowerific to be sure! This beautiful bouquet brings together a rainbow of the season's brightest blossoms.
Hot pink gerberas, orange bi-color roses, orange spray roses and green button spray chrysanthemums are delivered in a charming glass vase.
Product ID T157-2B
Approximately 8" W x 12" H


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Servicios Personalizados
Links relacionados
- Similares en SciELO
Revista mexicana de ciencias agrícolas
versión impresa ISSN 2007-0934
PALEMON ALBERTO, Francisco et al. Intervarietal maize crosses for the semi-warm region of Guerrero, México. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2011, vol.2, n.5, pp.745-757. ISSN 2007-0934.
The topography and agro-ecology of the Guerrero State is diverse and in agricultural areas of intermediate elevation (1 200 to 1 700 m), almost no improved varieties are planted, due to unfavorable climatic and soil conditions, so it is difficult to establish a maize breeding program for every ecological niche. In these regions, the stability of 25 maize varieties was examined, during five summer-autumn crop seasons from 2005 to 2009; aiming to identify an intervarietal cross that was stable, consistent and with good yield potential through the environments. The data was analyzed in 20 varieties, using a randomized complete block design with three replications by location and combining locations. Using this information, the stability parameters proposed by Eberhart and Russell, and described by Molina were estimated, also the additive main effects and multiplicative interaction model (AMMI) was applied. The V15 and V16 male parents showed stability and consistency through the environments; a similar behavior was shown by V3, V7 and V9 intervarietal crosses, they were also outstanding in grain yield; V11 was consistent and showed greater production potential in unfavorable environments. Intervarietal crosses V1, V4, V6, V10, farmer's local variety V13 and female parents V17, V18 and V20, showed good response in favorable environments but were also inconsistent. The two methods used, showed similar results; so, it was possible to select three varieties by its grain yield potential, stability, and consistency in environments.
Palabras llave : Zea mays L.; grain yield; tropical and subtropical varieties.


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Library Construction Alert: Falvey World History Collection to move to new onsite location!
This summer Falvey Memorial Library will start a building renovation project with the goal of transforming the Library into a more inviting and welcoming space. During the first phase of this project, the second floor will be completely gutted, except for the Special Collections room. In preparation for this phase, all current second-floor books will be relocated to the former bound-periodicals stacks, located in the Old Falvey section of the building. While this move in no way affects the American history collection, most D call numbers, with the exception of African and Australian history, will be moved into Old Falvey.
Clean-up work in Old Falvey has already started. Facilities Management staff will rehab and repaint the Old Falvey stacks to make them more inviting and conducive to shelf browsing. While the Library will do its utmost to keep its collection accessible while it is in transit, there may be some short periods of interrupted access. Be prepared for noise or messiness when you visit the Library over the summer. All heavy-duty construction should be completed before the fall semester begins.
Please feel free to contact me with any concerns that you may have.
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Announce your activity during SAC CW and SSB!
Please look at the rules when selecting class, power and overlay.
Entries marked with [S] are only for stations within Scandinavia.
Entries marked with [N] are only for stations outside Scandinavia.
You can submit and change your entry as many times as you like.
Contact email@example.com if you need help.


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Viewpoint by Fumiyasu Akegawa
Fumiyasu Akegawa is founder and president of DEVNET Japan.
TOKYO (IDN) – Since DEVNET Japan participated in August 2015 in Expo 2015 hosted by the Italian city of Milan, the organization set up in March 2013 to promote Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly in Southeast Asia has made considerable strides.
It was one of the notable non-official participants of the universal exhibition. Then known as DEVNET Tokyo Foundation, we availed of Milan Expo 2015 to throw light on our agenda focused on promoting seven themes: poverty alleviation; food security; humanitarian support; environmental protection; advanced technology and energy saving; support of women entrepreneurs and improvement of women's status; and the establishment of sustainable developing society.


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Organic & Grass Fed Meats
Most of our local suppliers are 100-mile diet friendly and usually situated in and around Chilliwack within the Fraser Valley. We work with small farms, on a personal one to one basis wherever possible, so we can interact with the farmers and undertake a study of the treatment and feeding of the animals we buy.
It is our mandate to purchase animals that are well cared for, well fed (Non GMO feed is a must!), and treated humanely when sent to slaughter. Our customers can rely on our experience and knowledge of the farms and farmers to ensure they receive the highest quality meats, respected humanely.
These farms are grass fed and finished with no grain for beef, lamb, bison and pastured for poultry where indicated. Our rating system explains our buying policy and how we manage our relationships with the farms we work with. We have certified organic and grass fed farmers such as Blue Goose and WW Ranch who are located in northern BC.
Occasionally we will buy meats from further afield when we are unable to find local versions of products such as Italian Salumi.
We also produce our own charcuterie such as craft beer sausages, working with local breweries to incorporate their beers into our products.
Sorry, there are no products matching your search.


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Welcome to Dragon Cave! Dragon Cave is an online adoptables game. Collect eggs, raise them to adulthood, and then breed them to create interesting lineages. New dragons are added regularly!
Sociable and small, Glowback Pygmies are very caring towards other pygmies' young. They tend to be nocturnal, lazing in the sun or resting in the treetops during the day, while at night they dance in the dark, their backs glowing brightly due to a bioluminescent chemical they produce in the hair-like growths on their backs. These hairs may shine in many colors; some individuals hold a solid shade across their back, while most gleam with a multitude of different hues. They have a love for shiny objects, often taking them back to their nest and leaving something from their home tree in return.
Dragons are highly-intelligent reptilian creatures that—from a human perspective, at least—appear to live forever. Many different varieties of dragon exist, each with their own unique qualities, habitats, and behavior. Adolescence in dragons is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling's wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. In Galsreim, dragons and humans coexist peacefully.
Pygmy dragons are the smallest category of dragons, being on the same scale as domesticated animals. They are often found around concentrated populations of dragons, relying on their larger brethren to ward away potential predators and leave scraps. As such, the majority of a pygmy's diet is scavenged. Due to their tiny size, pygmies do not breed with larger varieties of dragons.


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John Piper: Pastors Are Not Infallible or Ultimate Authority
Popular theologian and Desiring God founder John Piper says it's a good practice for Christians to make sure their pastors and church leaders agree with the teachings of the Bible. Pastors are not infallible, and should not be taken as the ultimate authority, he cautioned.
"The Bible is the ultimate authority and infallible, not the pastor and not the elders. And it doesn't mean that you believe everything he says without examining it," said Piper in a recent discussion about whether or not online sermons undermined local churches.
He explained that while the Bible advises Christians to submit to the authority of their spiritual leaders and encourages respect for the office of the pastor, it doesn't mean Christians are supposed to accept everything church leaders tell them as the infallible word. On the contrary, he noted, the Bible represents Christians who track the leadership of their pastors with biblical study as desirous.
"You see in Acts 17 that the Bereans were more noble than those in Thessalonica because they examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were so when an apostle was speaking to them. So it's not wrong for a people to love their pastor and submit to their pastor and still make sure that from the Bible, what he is saying and how he's leading squares up with Scripture," said Piper.
In discussing the impact of the access to online sermons on local church leadership, Piper pointed out that online sermons are just an additional layer of people's access to truth other than their preacher.
He explained that the monopoly Christian leaders once had on access to the teachings of the Bible began to break when the Bible was first translated and made available to the public. That monopoly continued to give way with the advent of books, radio and television.
Local pastors and their congregations could choose to see this increased access in a positive light.
"Is that a bad thing to have exposure to knowledge that might reveal unhelpful things?" asked Piper. "If it makes the pastor acknowledge that he has to make a good case then that's good to feel pressure."
If exposure to online sermons causes people to disengage or become disrespectful of the leadership of the local church, then in that case, it would definitely be hurting it, said Piper.
But while increased access to different sources of teaching may cause relational tensions between pastors and congregants, "I think avoiding those kind of tensions by hiding from truth is probably not going to honor God."


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"Suga" Rashad Evans is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight...
Former UFC light heavyweight champion "Suga" Rashad Evans will take a break from his training schedule on Friday, July 29th, to make his debut appearance on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Evans will discuss his upcoming main event rematch against Tito Ortiz on August 6th's UFC 133 card in Philadelphia, along with other topics with host Jimmy Fallon on the hit series, which airs at 12:35am ET / 11:35pm CT.
Other guests tonight include Brian Williams and co-host Chris Kattan. And for more info, visit www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com


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Results will be shown on another page
Karl-Heinz Lambertz (BE/PES) , President of the European Committee of the Regions, had this to say about the proposal for the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) presented today by the European Commission: "The drastic cuts to the rural development budget, the increase of co-financing for rural development policy and the removal of rural development funding via the CAP from cohesion policy mean that it will not be possible to preserve farming in every region or to safeguard a living countryside in order to meet the territorial cohesion objective enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty" .
It is crucial, according to the CoR President, to take rural areas into consideration not only under the CAP, but in all European policies: their needs extend far beyond what the rural development pillar of the CAP can deliver. Consequently, the Commission must strike a better territorial balance by taking account of the specific needs of rural and peri-urban areas, especially under cohesion policy.
The CoR's rapporteur on The CAP after 2020 , Guillaume Cros (FR/PES) , Vice-President of the Regional Council of Occitanie, emphasised that "many farmers sell their produce at a loss, and their earnings do not match their work. In the absence of fair farm prices and with no economic recognition, young people continue to shun farming. And the regulation on the common organisation of the market proposed today by the Commission will not be enough to head off crises in the sector. The Commission should provide farmers with more tools to regulate the market that would be more effective and cheaper than taking measures after a crisis has occurred" .
While the Committee welcomes the fairer distribution of direct payments between EU Member States and the introduction of a redistributive payment for the first hectares, it has doubts about the real scope of the Commission's proposals on capping and degressivity. It calls on the Commission to evaluate the percentage of aid that could effectively be redistributed to small farmers in each Member State through these new redistribution mechanisms.
Further information
CoR opinion on The CAP after 2020
Nathalie Vandelle
Tel. +32 22822499


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Forget high-speed cameras capturing 100,000 images per second. A research group at Lund University in Sweden has developed a camera that can film at a rate equivalent to five trillion images per second, or events as short as 0.2 trillionths of a second. This is faster than has previously been possible.
The new super-fast film camera will therefore be able to capture incredibly rapid processes in chemistry, physics, biology and biomedicine, that so far have not been caught on film.
To illustrate the technology, the researchers have successfully filmed how light -- a collection of photons -- travels a distance corresponding to the thickness of a paper. In reality, it only takes a picosecond, but on film the process has been slowed down by a trillion times.
Currently, high-speed cameras capture images one by one in a sequence. The new technology is based on an innovative algorithm, and instead captures several coded images in one picture. It then sorts them into a video sequence afterwards.
In short, the method involves exposing what you are filming (for example a chemical reaction) to light in the form of laser flashes where each light pulse is given a unique code. The object reflects the light flashes which merge into the single photograph. They are subsequently separated using an encryption key.
The film camera is initially intended to be used by researchers who literally want to gain better insight into many of the extremely rapid processes that occur in nature. Many take place on a picosecond and femtosecond scale, which is unbelievably fast -- the number of femtoseconds in one second is significantly larger than the number of seconds in a person's life-time.
"This does not apply to all processes in nature, but quite a few, for example, explosions, plasma flashes, turbulent combustion, brain activity in animals and chemical reactions. We are now able to film such extremely short processes," says Elias Kristensson. "In the long term, the technology can also be used by industry and others."
For the researchers themselves, however, the greatest benefit of this technology is not that they set a new speed record, but that they are now able to film how specific substances change in the same process.
"Today, the only way to visualise such rapid events is to photograph still images of the process. You then have to attempt to repeat identical experiments to provide several still images which can later be edited into a movie. The problem with this approach is that it is highly unlikely that a process will be identical if you repeat the experiment," he says.
Most days, Elias Kristensson and Andreas Ehn conduct research on combustion -- an area which is known to be difficult and complicated to study. The ultimate purpose of this basic research is to make next-generation car engines, gas turbines and boilers cleaner and more fuel-efficient. Combustion is controlled by a number of ultra-fast processes at the molecular level, which can now be captured on film.
For example, the researchers will study the chemistry of plasma discharges, the lifetime of quantum states in combustion environments and in biological tissue, as well as how chemical reactions are initiated. In the autumn, there will be more film material available.
About the camera:
The researchers call the technology FRAME -- Frequency Recognition Algorithm for Multiple Exposures.
A regular camera with a flash uses regular light, but in this case the researchers use "coded" light flashes, as a form of encryption. Every time a coded light flash hits the object -- for example, a chemical reaction in a burning flame -- the object emits an image signal (response) with the exact same coding. The following light flashes all have different codes, and the image signals are captured in one single photograph. These coded image signals are subsequently separated using an encryption key on the computer.
A German company has already developed a prototype of the technology, which means that within an estimated two years more people will be able to use it.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smvu8sQ2PaA&feature=youtu.be
Story Source:
Materials provided by Lund University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Cite This Page:


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You know, President Trump's State of the Union Address Tuesday was powerful. Most Americans felt that way. I wonder if the left enjoyed seeing Nancy Pelosi roll her eyes and chomp on her lips and pretend to have a conversation with Vice President Pence and sloppily rummage through blank sheets of paper? Well, if those cartoonish displays weren't enough evidence for Trump Derangement Syndrome, then she has made it abundantly since then.
Yesterday, a reporter from the Daily Caller asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi what she thought about President Trump's statements during the State of the Union Address about late-term abortions.
Pelosi On Later Term Abortion Ban: "It's Really Quite A Sad Thing"youtu.be
"Sad thing?"
You know what a "sad thing" is? The Dilation and Extraction method of surgical abortion used for abortions after 21 weeks.
An abortion of any kind is heinous. But many of the "methods" used for late-term abortions are literal murder. Little more than torture procedures.
Of course, Pelosi has her reasons, and they might not entirely be rooted in compassion for women's rights. For one, there's the guest she invited to the State of the Union Address: Leana Wen, the president of Planned Parenthood, who boldly took to Twitter to say:
As an immigrant, a mother, a doctor, and the president of Planned Parenthood, I am honored to attend the State of the Union as the guest of Speaker Pelosi — who throughout her illustrious career has been a staunch champion for women's rights, immigrant rights, voting rights, and universal access to health care.
You know the best response to all of this, and perhaps the one that has the most sway?
Trump rips New York abortion law at State of the Unionyoutu.be
Now if only that straight-talk can stifle the rampant outbreak of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Maybe then we could restore some humanity to the swarms of Americans under the spell of Pelosi and her lackeys.


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One of my New Year's resolutions is to cut to the chase, so here goes.
If you like traditional Castlevania games, buy Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth right now. You will enjoy it. Contrary to common assumption, it is not a remake of a crappy old Game Boy Castlevania game. It's also a lot longer and more substantial than the other ReBirth games released thus far. If you like games like Super Castlevania IV and Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, you will like Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth. That said, if you dislike either of those games, you will hate this game too. It makes a few changes to the Castlevania system, but not many, and certainly not enough to please non-fans.
As for the rest of you; those who have never played a Castlevania game or don't have an opinion about them, you guys should hit the jump. That's where I won't cut to the chase, and actually explain what makes traditional Castlevania games what they are, for better and worse, richer and poorer.
How was that? Concise enough?
Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (WiiWare)
Developer: M2
Publisher: Konami
Released: December 28, 2009
MSRP: 1,000 Wii Points
Okay, so if you've really never played a traditional Castlevania game, here's a quick rundown: these are games about whipping stuff. The Belmont family likes to whip candles, whip midgets who ride giant eagles, whip brick walls for meat, and eventually whip Dracula in the face until he gets pissed and turns into a giant bat-monster. The king of all Vampires, Frankenstein's monster, dragon skeletons, mud zombies, and giant bats made out of other bats are all frequent fliers (lolpunlol) in the Castlevania world. The games are mostly known for these traditional Gothic horror elements, classic monsters and mythological beasts, but Hell, so are half of the action/adventure games of the '80s and '90s. They're not what makes the Castlevania series special.
If a 2D platforming series is going to survive for 20-plus years, it's got to have more of a hook than that. Sonic has speed, Mega Man has the strategic boss weapon acquisitions, Mario has the constant jumping, but what does Castlevania have? What's its shtick? I've been playing these games for more than half my life, and I still don't know for sure.
That doesn't mean I don't have a guess, though. After some hardcore pondering, here's what I've come up with. From what I can tell, every traditional Castlevania game is about one thing at its core: getting about six in-game feet away from something (which is about a jump/whip length's distance) and staying there long enough to whip it to death or jump on it (respectively). You never want an enemy or an obstacle to be too far away, because then you won't be able to hit it or jump over it (respectively). Likewise, you never want stuff to get too close to you, either, because touching just about anything in Castlevania means taking a hit (even the back of a blue bat's ass). Most of the game's enemies are constantly trying to get close enough to you to hit you, while others do their best to keep their distance and lob you with projectiles. Getting close enough, but not too close, is the constant dance that makes Castlevania games interesting.
Castlevania isn't alone in this type of gameplay. Rygar, Strider, Rastan, and all the old melee-themed 2D action/platformers were like that. It's the way that Castlevania games limit you from doing anything else but get within whip/jump length's distance from something, and the many ways the game's enemies circumvent your efforts, that makes the them special. The classic Castlevania games are an exercise in both variety and economy. That formula is why we're still playing this brand of Castlevania game.
There is a slight variation in the "whip length's distance" paradigm. Just like the Game Boy game with the same name, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth stars Christopher Belmont. Visually, he looks pretty much like every other Belmont. The thing that makes him special is his fireball-flinging whip, which temporarily allows you to attack from farther than a whip's distance away. This gameplay upgrade is actually what caused me to realize just how much these games center on the task of getting whip-close to stuff. The fireball whip is time-sensitive. It only works for eight or nine seconds, just long enough to show you how hard it actually is to take on a castle full of ghosts and demons with nothing but a whip (and the occasional sub-weapon).
So that's the economy part of the formula. The variety comes in the form of the game's six stages. Each has a specific theme, be it relentless, sentient, giant ghost eyeballs (yes, that is a theme); dark and foreboding, waterlogged caves (complete with giant, flying jellyfish); blood spike-laden dungeons; a lost woods-like maze; or the traditional Castlevania clock tower (complete with functioning, but illogically placed, giant pendulums). No two stages feel the same. Though there are a lot of familiar trends to be found here, there are also quite a few surprises. If I told you what they were, they wouldn't be surprises anymore, but I will say that just about every boss in the game has a desperation attack that they only pull once half of their health is gone. It was during these attacks that I most often saw myself burst into a airborne puddle of blood.
Speaking of bosses (and puddles of blood), the game has multiple mid-bosses as well, at least one per level. You won't see them all in one play-through. It took me at six plays to find them all, and even now I still feel like I've missed something. Just like in the fan-favorite Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, these large and unpredictable levels do a lot to make the game's world feel like a real place. Another nice "realistic" touch is the variety of environmental hazards that can hurt both you and your enemies. Luring a group of skeletons into a giant spear trap or cutting a chandelier free to see it crush a skinless snake-dragon below is always a good time.
As for the graphics, first things first: if you're playing on a widescreen TV, adjust the game's display (in the options menu) to fit your screen as soon as you start playing. This will go a long way towards helping you enjoy yourself. The game's characters don't have quite the same level of animation as those found in Symphony of the Night, but it's definitely up there. Occasional polygon-based effects and detailed, parallax-packing backgrounds give the game a lot more pop than the other ReBirth games Konami has released thus far.
The game's music, on the other hand, didn't suit me all that well. I know a lot of fans love it, and are already clamoring for the release of the soundtrack (which should be coming out in Japan in March of this year), but for the most part, it took a while to grow on me. The compositions themselves are great; all are taken from past Castlevania games and all are packed with neo-classical, pop-goth panache. My problem is that all the synth and wah-wah found here is really in-your-face. It's purely a style gripe, and has nothing to do with how well the music is crafted, but it's still worth mentioning. Turning down the music's volume to half-power did a lot to alienate any troubles I had with the way that it's orchestrated. That also helps you to hear the game's sound effects, which are way more awesome and bizarre than they deserve to be.
As for overall length, it took me about four and a half hours to beat the game the first time on normal difficulty (after dying at least sixty times), and about five more to play through it again enough times to see all of the hidden paths. I expected something to happen for all my effort, but so far I haven't found anything. Unlike Konami's two other two ReBirth titles, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth doesn't seem to have real unlockables. Other than a "classic" mode (which doesn't do anything except make your jump harder to control and your flame whip more temporary) that you unlock after playing the game and restarting once, there's nothing in terms of bonuses. No extra characters, no secret boss rush mode. Nothing. This is a game that that expects you to play it because you enjoy it, not for Achievements or other faux-collectibles.
When I say this game expects you to enjoy it, I mean it. This game thinks that you want to start playing it again from the first level each time you boot it up. It has no save system. Just like in the original Castlevania, you can continue as much as you want, but if you turn your console off, you're going to have to start over from scratch next time you play it. For me, that worked fine. Being forced to replay the game led me to more quickly explore levels I'd already seen, to find new paths and expand my overall experience. It also didn't take very long to play through things the second (and third) time, as once you learn how to take on a given level or last boss, they won't give you half as much trouble as they did the first five or six times they killed you. Still, I can envision a lot of people being extremely annoyed with the game's refusal to let you save. Not giving players options is always a bad idea.
That design flaw and the synth-y soundtrack are my only real problems with Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth. Otherwise, it's a great game (superb, even) and is sure to satisfy any and all people who like this sort of thing. It also makes for a great $10 jump-off point for people who have never played a Castlevania game before. In just a week, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth has become one of my favorite games in the series. Good job, Iga and company. Now if you (or Kojima) could just make a 3D Castlevania game that's this fun, then I'd really be impressed.
Score: 8.5 — Great (8s are impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.)
[UPDATE: Turns out there is a secret stage select trick that effectively lets you restart from any level that you've beaten. This fixes my initial complaint about the game's lack of a save feature, but seeing as this is information that players (like myself) wouldn't necessarily know when first playing through the game, I'm not going to change the game's official score. In my mind, the score has in fact changed from an 8.5 to an 8.6985472123, but actually telling you that would be sort of silly.]
(Oops, almost forgot to tell you: the game is also motion control-compatible. It's redonkulous.)


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Nikephoros the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople
June 2
Saint Nicephorus was born in Constantinople about the year 758, of pious parents; his father Theodore endured exile and tribulation for the holy icons during the reign of Constantine Copronymus (741-775). Nicephorus served in the imperial palace as a secretary. Later, he took up the monastic life, and struggled in asceticism not far from the imperial city; he also founded monasteries on the eastern shore of the Bosphorus, among them one dedicated to the Great Martyr Theodore.
After the repose of the holy Patriarch Tarasius, he was ordained Patriarch, on April 12, 806, and in this high office led the Orthodox resistance to the Iconoclasts' war on piety, which was stirred up by Leo the Armenian. Because Nicephorus championed the veneration of the icons, Leo drove Nicephorus from his throne on March 13, 815, exiling him from one place to another, and lastly to the Monastery of Saint Theodore which Nicephorus himself had founded. It was here that, after glorifying God for nine years as Patriarch, and then for thirteen years as an exile, tormented and afflicted, he gave up his blameless soul in 828 at about the age of seventy. See also March 8.
Apolytikion of Nicephorus, Abp. of Constantinople
Fourth Tone
A model of faith and the image of gentleness, the example of your life has shown you forth to your sheep-fold to be a master of temperance. You obtained thus through being lowly, gifts from on high, and riches through poverty. Nicephorus, our father and priest of priests, intercede with Christ our God that He may save our souls.
Kontakion of Nicephorus, Abp. of Constantinople
Fourth Tone
Since thou hast received today the crown of vict'ry from the Heavens at God's hand, save all them that faithfully now honour thee as a teacher and a faithful hierarch, O Father Nicephorus.
Blessed Feast Day
Share the feast of Nikephoros the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople with an icon greeting ecard.


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Brand > Maui Jim
How it all began
Maui Jim got its start in 1980 as a small company selling sunglasses on Ka'anapali beach in Lahaina, Maui. Seeing a need in the market for technology that could combat intense glare and harmful UV while bringing the brilliant colours of the island to life we engineered the revolutionary PolarizedPlus2® lens.
What began as our Classic Collection of seven styles, has evolved into over 125 styles of sunglasses, all of which are polarized and protect from 100% of UVA and UVB rays.
Our home office is located in Lahaina, Maui, and we still design and test all of our sunglasses there.
We take our cues from the sun. It's as much a part of our lives as the air that we breathe. We work in it. We play under it. We relax in it. We are always finding new ways to reveal more of the vibrant colours of the world while protecting your eyes from the effects of harsh glare and harmful rays.
Our promise
We always show our true colours – true colours that come shining through in our superior customer service. We promise that you will always be greeted with a friendly voice and a dedicated representative. We want you to be happy. That's why we stand behind every pair of sunglasses we make.


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The Fender Telecaster has sported many looks for over 60 years, but none as elegant as the new limited edition Telecaster Thinline Super Deluxe.
Available in Black and Olympic White, this stunning Tele's appointments include a resonant semi-hollow basswood body with double binding and a single f hole, matching painted headstock, 7.25"-radius bound rosewood fingerboard with pearloid block inlays, and a scorching pair of Fideli'Tron™ humbucking pickups.
Other premium features include a modern C-shaped maple neck with bone nut, 21 wide vintage-style frets, three-way blade switching with "top hat" switch tip, single-ply pickguard (gold on Olympic White model; silver on Black model), gold (Olympic White model) and chrome (Black model) hardware, vintage-style Stratocaster®hard-tail bridge, three-bolt "F"-stamped neck plate with Mictro-Tilt™ adjustment
For additional information, visit www.fender.com.
Pics pop for larger images.


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Survey Finds That Americans Think Weather Forecasts Are Important
News story originally written on June 23, 2009
A new study found that nine out of 10 adult Americans look at the weather forecast more than three times a day. The study looked at what people think about weather forecasts and how important they think they are.
Jeffrey Lazo, NCAR scientist and the lead author on this study, explains that understanding how people use day-to-day weather information can help scientists develop more relevant and valuable weather forecasts and warnings by providers like the National Weather Service. Gaining a better understanding of people's attitudes and behaviors toward forecasts also provides valuable information to emergency managers.
"Better communication strategies can be developed for hazardous weather like hurricanes, winter storms, and floods," Lazo says. "Improved understanding will also help forecasters to communicate forecast uncertainty information more effectively."
Although the number of forecasts an individual obtains varies significantly from day-to-day, depending on factors like weather events and planned daily activities, the researchers found that on average individuals received forecasts 3.8 times a day. These findings show that Americans receive a yearly total of about 300 billion forecasts.
NCAR associate scientist and coauthor Julie Demuth said the study also revealed people's curiosity about weather, with 85 percent of respondents saying that more than half the time they obtain forecasts simply to know what the weather will be like. "This tells us that people generally have a high level of interest in weather forecasts, regardless of whether they use this information directly for planning and decision-making," says Demuth.
Many people use forecasts for planning specific activities, such as vacations, and routine daily activities, such as deciding what to wear and how to get to work or school. The peak periods for accessing forecasts were the early morning, early evening, and late evening hours, says Demuth.


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TUESDAY, July 26, 2011 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that fatty foods do more than satisfy our stomachs. They may also soothe our psyche, literally serving as comfort foods.
"Eating fat seems to make us less vulnerable to sad emotions, even if we don't know we're eating fat," said psychiatrist Dr. Lukas Van Oudenhove, co-author of a study that tracked people's responses to sad and neutral experiences while fatty acids were inserted into their stomach. The food appeared to cause emotional and physical changes.
Anyone who's ever dipped into a pint of premium ice cream after a breakup knows that certain foods feel emotionally healing. But is it all in the mind -- a connection to, say, childhood comforts? Or are there signals that go from mouth or stomach to the brain?
Researchers previously have tackled these questions by focusing on how the smell, taste and appearance of food affect emotions, said Van Oudenhove, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Leuven in Belgium. But this new study is a first, he said, because "we bypassed sensory stimulation by infusing fatty acids directly into the stomach, without the subjects knowing whether they were getting fat or saline."
For the study, published in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the researchers recruited 12 non-obese, healthy volunteers who received fatty acids or a saline solution through a feeding tube. Using functional MRI, the researchers also scanned the volunteers' brain waves as they were exposed to sad and neutral music, and sad and neutral facial expressions.
One might assume they would already be a bit sad because of the medical procedure, but Van Oudenhove said they weren't particularly uncomfortable.
On its own, the efforts to induce sadness -- through music and images of frowns -- caused people's moods to fall by 2.5 points out of 10, Van Oudenhove said. But the fatty acids helped reduce the dip to about 1 point.
In the brain itself, researchers found that induced sadness produced a change of about 3 to 4 percent, "which is quite a lot," Van Oudenhove said. But the level of change shrank to less than 1 percent once the subjects got a dose of fatty acids, at least in most regions of the brain that were analyzed.
It's not clear if other ingredients in food would have a similar effect. Van Oudenhove said more research is needed to determine whether the findings may have any value in treatment of obesity, depression or eating disorders.
The authors of an accompanying journal editorial pointed out several limitations of the study, including the small number of participants and the absence of an obese cohort. Still, they said the findings may help further the understanding of obesity.
"The next step would be to test the effects of food that contain both high-fat and high-sugar," said Sonja Yokum, a research associate at the Oregon Research Institute in Eugene, who's familiar with the study findings. "It would be interesting to test if fat, sugar or the combination decreases negative mood and for how long."
Also of interest, she said, would be a study involving both "emotional eaters" (people who use food as solace) and successful dieters.
Ultimately, it would be "very helpful" to find a way to prevent people from craving high-fat and high-sugar foods when they're depressed, Yokum said.
More information
The Nemours Foundation has more about emotional eating.


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Bhutan Table of Contents
Although knowledge of prehistoric Bhutan has yet to emerge through archaeological study, stone tools and weapons, remnants of large stone structures, and megaliths that may have been used for boundary markers or rituals provide evidence of civilization as early as 2000 B.C. The absence of neolithic mythological legends argues against earlier inhabitation. A more certain prehistoric period has been theorized by historians as that of the state of Lhomon (literally, southern darkness) or Monyul (dark land, a reference to the Monpa aboriginal peoples of Bhutan), possibly a part of Tibet that was then beyond the pale of Buddhist teachings. Monyul is thought to have existed between 500 B.C. and A.D. 600. The names Lhomon Tsendenjong (southern Mon sandalwood country) and Lhomon Khashi (southern Mon country of four approaches), found in ancient Bhutanese and Tibetan chronicles, may also have credence and have been used by some Bhutanese scholars when referring to their homeland. Variations of the Sanskrit words Bhota-ant (end of Bhot, an Indian name for Tibet) or Bhu-uttan (meaning highlands) have been suggested by historians as origins of the name Bhutan, which came into common foreign use in the late nineteenth century and is used in Bhutan only in English-language official correspondence. The traditional name of the country since the seventeenth century has been Drukyul- -country of the Drokpa, the Dragon People, or the Land of the Thunder Dragon--a reference to the country's dominant Buddhist sect. Some scholars believe that during the early historical period the inhabitants were fierce mountain aborigines, the Monpa, who were of neither the Tibetan or Mongol stock that later overran northern Bhutan. The people of Monyul practiced the shamanistic Bon religion, which emphasized worship of nature and the existence of good and evil spirits. During the latter part of this period, historical legends relate that the mighty king of Monyul invaded a southern region known as the Duars, subduing the regions of modern Assam, West Bengal, and Bihar in India.
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Source: U.S. Library of Congress |


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Timothy J. Colton
Timothy J. Colton is Morris and Anna Feldberg Professor of Government and Russian Studies and the Chair of the Department of Government. His main interest is Russian and post-Soviet government and politics.
He is the author of The Dilemma of Reform in the Soviet Union (1986); Moscow: Governing the Socialist Metropolis (1995), which was named best scholarly book in government and political science by the Association of American Publishers; Transitional Citizens: Voters and What Influences Them in the New Russia (2000); and Popular Choice and Managed Democracy: The Russian Elections of 1999 and 2000 (with Michael McFaul, 2003).He is currently writing a book on the statecraft of Boris Yeltsin and coordinating a joint project on the post-Communist state.
He was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a member of the Joint Committee on Soviet Studies of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, and vice-chairman of the National Council for East European, Russian, and Eurasian Research. He is currently a member of the editorial board of World Politics and Post-Soviet Affairs.
Timothy J. Colton holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University, 1974.


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[Zaion] grabbed an ATX power supply to source the 5V the Raspberry Pi needs to run. The common problem when it comes to RPi supplies is a shortfall in how much current a USB wall adapter can source. The ATX shouldn't have this problem, but none-the-less he found that the USB ports were only reading about 5V. Strange. He grabbed the soldering iron and fixed the issue with a piece of jumper wire (English translation found in the second half of his post).
The problem was discovered when trying to get a WiFi dongle to work on one of the RPi's USB ports. It simply wouldn't show up, and after going down the blind alley of assuming it was a driver problem he started to investigate the hardware. After discovering the below-nominal voltage [Zaion] measured the resistance between the 5V pin on the GPIO header and the one on the USB port. It reads 3-4 Ohms and he concluded that the trace is too thin. We took a quick look at the schematic for the board and see no reason for the voltage drop. His jumper wire fixed the issue but it leaves us wondering, is this an isolated case, or a design flaw? Tell us what you think in the comments section.


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In addition to the core rule book, we have released an introductory adventure, Seeds of Rage.
You can grab both books in our Abandon All Hope Starter Bundle+
Abandon All Hope is a science-fiction/supernatural horror role-playing game in which players take on the role of the condemned aboard an automated spaceship that has plunged over the edge of the known universe. Here, in another dimension, they must contend with escaped lunatics, robotic controllers, and monstrous aliens who feed off of their fear and suffering. Former convicts are now the heroes, and every day is a fight for survival. For those who seek it there will be chances to escape, to gain power, embrace damnation, or seek redemption...
Download High Resolution PDF: Gehenna PDF
In addition to worrying about demons, the pathetic inhabitants of the lost prison ship Gehenna must also contend with their robotic controllers, the vast legion of "custodians". Designed and programmed for a wide range of missions, the custodians were responsible for monitoring the population's behavior, seeing to their needs, enforcing the restrictions and regulations of the prison, tracking down escapees, confiscating contraband, and, when necessary, carrying out punishment for offenders who continued to endanger their fellow prisoners through their unrepentant crimes.
Let's look at one example:
Enforcers are the Gehenna's equivalent of prison guards. Each Enforcer is an enormous armored contraption that hovers along on a gravity wave emitter at a height of seven to ten feet. The task of the ship's Enforcers is to respond to unlawful activity reported by Narcs and Monitors and deal with the problem. Envisioned as peacekeepers and law officers, Enforcers were given surprisingly simple and strict programming, so that when they are called on to act, they do so decisively (and often lethally).
Prowess 10 Social 1 Reflexes 5 Intimidation 10 Wits 3 Movement 8 Willpower 7 Health 75 ENFORCER SPECIAL RULES
Large Size: This machine is larger than a man and takes up four spaces (square) on a standard battle grid.
Authoritarian: To face down an enforcer, an unarmed human opponent must succeed at a Despair check. If she fails she is unable to resist the custodian's commands.
Cattle Prod: An enforcer is equipped with a cattle prod. Its internal power source allows it to use this weapon indefinitely.
Sonic Beamer: An enforcer is equipped with a sonic beamer that affects not only the target, but anyone adjacent to the target as well. Its internal power source allows it to use this weapon indefinitely.
Armor: Due to its metal construction a monitor reduces the damage from all physical attacks by -4 (minimum 0).
Call Backup: Instead of attacking, an enforcer can communicate a distress call to a range of 500 ft. which will draw the attention of all nearby Enforcers to its aid.
Gehenna has wandered into a dimension of unimaginable terror, a place so far beyond the outer limit of the known universe that it can only be described as "Hell itself". Still as yet unexplained, the hatred, fear, guilt, and madness of the inmates aboard causes the frequent manifestation of monstrous beings that are hideous to behold and terrible to confront. These creatures have come to be known as "demons".
The demons of Abandon All Hope come in three varies linked directly to Ludovico Gauges: Despair, Guilt, and Insanity. Let's look at one from the Despair family:
DEATH SLITHERSeen in the shadows of an abandoned cell or moving through a darkened passage, a Death Slither might be mistaken for a snake as it slinks sinuously across the floor, moving side to side with quick and powerful swings of its tail. This strange form of demon resembles the skull and spine of a human cadaver, hung with rotten flesh and patches of hair, with white, dead eyes and a bisected lower jaw rimmed with jagged, alien teeth. Death Slithers are typically lone hunters, stalking the darkness of deep halls and corridors for isolated victims, playing cat-and-mouse with potential prey. Since they can literally "taste" their victims' growing fear, these creatures appear to delight in tormenting prey before an actual confrontation. When the sensation of intense fear becomes too much for the demon to resist any longer, it finally ambushes its prey, moving in for the satisfying climax of the kill.
Typical Manifestation: When manifested, a Death Slither generally reanimates scattered bones, which slowly come together to take on a serpentine shape and life of their own.
Prowess 6 Social 1 Reflexes 9 Intimidation 6 Wits 3 Movement 6 Willpower 3 Health 10 DEATH SLITHER SPECIAL RULES
Small Size: This creature is small. Two creatures of its kind can occupy the same square on a standard battle grid.
Frightening: Characters beholding a death slither must make a Despair check or accumulate +1D2 Despair.
Hopelessness: Hope points cannot be used during encounters with this creature.
Bite: A death slither's bite attack does 1D6 Health damage.
Tail Lash: Instead of biting, a death slither can attack with its tail, using Reflexes instead of Prowess for its attack roll; a successful hit does 1D3 Health damage and also ignores all Armor (except for a helmet, which offers normal protection).
Latch: If a death slither's bite is successful, it latches onto the target. It must maintain this hold (i.e. remain alive) for three turns to use its Choke ability (see below).
Choke: If a death slither remains latched onto a target for three turns, on the fourth turn it automatically deals 1D4 Health damage; if a natural 4 is rolled, another D4 is rolled and added to the total (and again if another 4 is rolled, etc.). A victim killed by this ability is decapitated (no Recovery possible) and the head will rise as a death slither in 1D10 turns.
JAILHOUSE GIANTS (Pre-/Post-Perdition)
The "Jailhouse Giants" were one of the more formidable factions aboard the ship before Perdition, appealing to a diverse slice of the prison population - namely, those victimized, hounded, or otherwise ostracized by the other gangs. Formed in response to attacks on minorities, the weak, and the isolated, the Jailhouse Giants gave a voice (and violent support when needed) to those prisoners who, alone, had very little chance of surviving. The 'Giants, being relatively small, earned a nasty reputation for well-coordinated attacks on other gangs, clandestine assassinations, etc. that ultimately set them up as a respectable gang few gangs took on lightly.
Probationary: To join the Jailhouse Giants one must possess the Tortured trait.
Junior Standing: All members of Junior Standing gain the Boxing trait for free (if the character already has this trait, she gains 50 BPs instead). The 'Giants make sure their members can fight for themselves.
Senior Standing: Senior members gain their choice of either +1 Prowess or Intimidation.
Inner Circle: Inner Circle members gain a +100 Build Point bonus whenever they complete a mission that furthers their gang's goals.
A Personal goals reflect either your character's own ambitions, or a driving force behind her actions, or simply something she hopes to accomplish before she dies.....
Personal goals do more than give flavor to your character; depending on your personal goal, certain actions during the game may lead to bonus Build Points if you act in accordance to your goal.
There are five goal: Redemption, Power, Survival, Escape, and Damnation. Here's one example:
A character seeking redemption searches for a way to amend for her crimes, a proverbial "cleaning of the slate", through embracing a new sense of honor and self-sacrifice. A character with this personal goal sees the situation on the Gehenna as a chance to save fellow prisoners, protect others, and generally make up for the evils of her sordid past.Examples:
• Guilty of terrible murders, you have come to seek redemption, if not in God's eyes than at least in your fellow man's. You try to protect your comrades and, if necessary, will die for them.
• Having been party to the slaughter of innocents during the last war, and condemned for your service, you have come to regret the death and destruction once waged by your hands. You search for redemption leads you to care for the weak, the innocent, and fight for a common good.Role-Playing Suggestions: Be a leader. Lead by example; be brave, inspire heroics in others. Do the right thing when you get the chance, even to your own detriment. Share with others, gain their trust.
BP Awards: Characters with this goal gain bonus BP awards for saving the lives of other characters, making "good" moral choices, sacrificing themselves for the greater good, etc.


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Voter's registration can be done in-person at the Village Hall. Please bring one photo ID and one ID with your current address and the Deputy Clerk will register you for voter registration. For more ways to register click here.
Show All Answers
FOIA request forms are available online and in the lobby of the Village Hall, 66 Thillen Drive. Once completed, they may be submitted in person, via fax 847-587-2237, via mail or via email at email@example.com
Yes. You are allowed two (2) garage sales per calendar year. They can be held up to three (3) consecutive days.
Yes. You can request a garage sale permit at the Village Hall. The cost is $5.00 for each sale.
Submit completed, notarized application to the Deputy Clerk's Office located within the Village Hall at 66 Thillen Drive. Please contact the Deputy Clerk at 847-587-3947 with any questions.
Visit the facility rental page for information or call Village Hall at (847) 587-2151


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Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Reds closer Aroldis Chapman threw off a mound on Monday for the first time since he was hit in the forehead by a line drive during spring training.
The left-hander threw 25 pitches in the bullpen before Cincinnati opened a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Reds will gradually increase his activities and hope to have him back sometime in May.
Chapman sustained fractures above his left eye and his nose when he was hit by Salvador Perez's line drive on March 19 during a relief appearance against Kansas City. He had a plate inserted in the forehead the next day. Chapman has to be careful not to get hit in the forehead while it heals, so he's restricted to working out and throwing on his own.
General manager Walt Jocketty and manager Bryan Price watched his bullpen session on Monday.
"He threw all of his pitches, including his slider," Price said. "He was sharp, extremely enthusiastic and happy to be out there, as we all were. It was exciting."
There are a lot more steps before he can get back into a game. He'll throw in the bullpen a few more times before the Reds allow him to pitch to some of their hitters.
"It was an obvious and essential step to the next thing, which will be live batting practice and game situations," Price said. "I think facing batters will be the biggest hurdle for him initially, but we haven't seen any reason to feel like he's other than optimistic about getting back on the mound."
Chapman had to rest completely for weeks after the surgery. He said it felt good to get back on a mound for the first time in nearly four weeks.
"Everything went well," Chapman said, with assistant trainer Tomas Vera translating. "My fastball was really good. My command was good. The breaking ball worked. Everything was great."
Price said that Chapman will have the option of using a batting practice screen in front of the mound the first time he throws to hitters.
"It will really end up with where he's comfortable," Price said. "We'll see. The big test will be when he gets back into the game, facing live competition."
Chapman is one of eight Reds who opened the season on the disabled list, the most in the majors. Reliever Jonathan Broxton and catcher Devin Mesoraco were activated last week.
Left-handed reliever Sean Marshall is scheduled to make back-to-back appearances for Triple-A Louisville this week, a good test of whether his shoulder has fully recovered from the soreness he felt during spring training. If there's no problem, he could be activated later in the week.
"We want to get him through these outings," Price said. "Going back-to-back for the first time is a step in the right direction — a huge step in the right direction, actually. We'll see how he comes out of it."
Follow Joe Kay on Twitter: http://twitter.com/apjoekay
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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16th Annual NY International Children's Film Festival
Click the thumbnails above to see images from a few of the new animated feature film premieres at The 16th Annual NY International Children's Film Festival. The event runs March 1st through the 24th at seven New York locations: Asia Society and Museum, DGA Theater, Elinor Bunim Munroe Film Center, French Institute Alliance Française, IFC Center, Scholastic Theater and the SVA Theatre.
Opening night is the US Premiere of the exquisite hand drawn French feature, Ernest And Celestine; US Premiere's of Ghibli's From Up On Poppy Hill, Michel Ocelot's Kirikou & The Men & The Women, India's Hey Krishna, Mamoro Hosoda's Wolf Children, and many others.
This event has become a vital stop for many foreign animated features en route into the US. Tickets to the screenings are now on sale at Gkids.com. Below is the complete press release with all the details.
16th ANNUAL EVENT RUNS MARCH 1-24
25,000+ ATTENDEES EXPECTED FOR 100 FILMSNEW YORK, NY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013 – The critically acclaimed New York Int'l Children's Film Festival has announced its full slate and jury for the 16th annual edition, which runs March 1-24 at seven Manhattan locations. The nation's largest festival for kids and teens will present four weeks of ground-breaking and thought-provoking new works for ages 3-18, with 100 new films, opening and closing galas, premieres, six short film programs, filmmaker Q&As, filmmaking workshops, A-list jury, audience voting, and the NYICFF Awards Ceremony. NYICFF is an Oscar®–qualifying festival –recipients of NYICFF's jury prizes are eligible for Oscar® consideration in the Best Animated and Live Action Short Film categories.
DATES: March 1- March 24
LOCATIONS: Asia Society and Museum, DGA Theater, Elinor Bunim Munroe Film Center, French Institute Alliance Française, IFC Center, Scholastic Theater, SVA Theatre
TICKETS: Tickets for all events are now on sale at www.gkids.com. As in past years, all screenings are expected to sell out, so advance purchase is highly recommended.
· John Canemaker – Academy Award®-winning animator
· Geena Davis – Academy Award®-winning actor (The Accidental Tourist, Thelma & Louise)
· Tomm Moore – Academy Award® nominated animator/director (The Secret of Kells)
· Lynne McVeigh – Associate Professor of Children's Media at NYU Tisch School of the Arts
· Matthew Modine –Award-winning actor (Full Metal Jacket, The Dark Knight Rises)
· Michel Ocelot – Award-winning writer/director/animator (Kirikou & the Sorceress, Tales of the Night)
· Dana Points – Editor-in-Chief, Parents Magazine
· Susan Sarandon – Academy Award®-winning actor (Dead Man Walking, Arbitrage)
· James Schamus – Award-winning writer/producer (Brokeback Mountain, The Ice Storm)
· Evan Shapiro – President, Participant Television
· Christine Vachon – Award-winning producer (Boys Don't Cry, Mildred Pierce)
· Gus Van Sant – Academy Award® nominated director (Milk, Good Will Hunting)
· Taika Waititi – Academy Award® nominated writer/director (Two Cars One Night, Boy)
· Jeffrey Wright – Award-winning actor (Basquiat, The Ides of March)
· Approved for Adoption – North American Premiere, Belgium/France/Switzerland, Laurent Boileau/Jung Henin. In this fascinating animated autobiography a series of gorgeously animated, sepia-toned vignettes – some humorous and some poetic – trace filmmaker Jung Henin from the day he is adopted from Korea by a Belgian family, through elementary school, and into his teenage years, when his emerging sense of identity begins to create fissures at home and to inflame the latent biases of his adoptive parents. The filmmaker tells his story using his own animation intercut with snippets of super-8 family footage, archival film, and new footage. The result is an animated memoir like no other: clear-eyed and unflinching, humorous and wry, and above all, inspiring in the capacity of the human heart.
In French with English subtitles – Recommended ages 11 to adult .
· The Day of the Crows – East Coast Premiere, Canada/France, Jean-Christophe Dessaint. Raised like an animal since birth and knowing only the ways of the wild, a nameless boy has been forbidden by his father to venture beyond the edge of the forest that is their home. But when his father is injured, the boy goes to a nearby town for help – where he experiences the wonders of human contact and civilized living for the first time. With tips of the hat to the enchanted forest worlds of Hayao Miyazaki and François Truffaut's The Wild Child, this lushly animated film travels the blurred lines between animal and human, nature and civilization, and the realms of the living and of spirits.
In French with English subtitles – Recommended ages 7 to adult.
· Ernest & Celestine, Opening Night Film – US Premiere, Belgium/France, Renner/Patar/Aubier. NYICFF kicks off the 2013 festival with the extraordinary new film from the producers of Kirikou and the Sorceress, Triplets of Belleville and The Secret of Kells. Fresh from standing ovations at Toronto and Cannes, Ernest & Celestine joyfully leaps across genres and influences to capture the kinetic, limitless possibilities of animation. Deep below snowy, cobblestone streets and tucked away amongst winding tunnels, lives a civilization of hardworking mice, terrified of the bears who live above ground. Unlike her fellow mice, Celestine is an artist and a dreamer – and when she nearly ends up as breakfast for grumpy troubadour Ernest, the two form an unlikely bond and are soon living together as outcasts in a winter cottage. Like a gorgeous watercolor painting brought to life, a constantly shifting pastel color palette bursts and drips across the screen, while wonderful storytelling and brilliant comic timing draw up influences as varied as Buster Keaton, Bugs Bunny and the outlaw romanticism of Bonnie and Clyde.
In French with English subtitles – Recommended ages 7 to adult – or all ages for French speaking audiences.
· From Up on Poppy Hill – US Premiere, Japan, Goro Miyazaki. The newest feature from the legendary Studio Ghibli has written by studio founder Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Goro Miyazaki, marking the first feature film collaboration between father and son. The results are stunning – a pure, sincere, nuanced and heartfelt film that signals yet another triumph for the esteemed studio. Set in Yokohama in 1964, the film centers on an innocent romance developing between two high-school kids caught up in the changing times, as the country picks itself up from the devastation of World War 2 and prepares to host the 1964 Olympics. Star-filled voice cast includes Jamie Lee Curtis, Christina Hendricks, Ron Howard and Anton Yelchin.
In English – Recommended ages 9 to adult
· Hey Krishna – North American Premiere, India, Vikram Veturi. Packed with iridescent hues, outrageous characters, epic battles and endearingly loopy Bollywood-style musical interludes, Hey Krishna is a vibrantly colorful cartoon retelling of the life of the child Krishna – the naughty prankster with the beautiful blue hue and long eyelashes. A prophesy foretells that the tyrant Kans will be killed by Krishna, the eighth child of his sister Devaki, and so Kans has Devaki imprisoned. But the infant Krishna is spirited away to a nearby village and raised by peasants – and when Kans hears that Krishna has escaped his fate, he sends out demons and monsters to finish the job.
In English – Recommended ages 8 to adult
· Kauwboy – East Coast Premiere, Netherlands, Boudewijn Koole. The Netherlands' official entry for this year's Oscars® and winner of the Best First Feature award at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival, Kauwboy is a tender portrait of a boy struggling to come to terms with a family that's not what it once was. With his country-singer mother absent, Jojo lives alone with his security guard father, a man of few words, who is quick to anger and has seemingly no affection for his 10-year-old son. Left to his own devices, Jojo finds an abandoned baby crow in the woods near their house – and finds solace in caring for this small creature, who is even more alone and vulnerable than he is.
In Dutch with English subtitles – Recommended ages 10 to adult
· Kirikou and the Men and the Women – North American Premiere, France, Michel Ocelot. The pint-sized, quick-footed child hero Kirikou returns in the new feature from world-renowned animator/director/storyteller Michel Ocelot, who NYICFF audiences should be well familiar with from Kirikou and the Sorceress, Azur & Asmar, and Tales of the Night. In this third film in the Kirikou trilogy, Ocelot's almost impossibly vibrant use of color is everywhere on display – as a collection of short form fables are woven together, mixing traditional storytelling and mythology with bits of humor and wit, and backed by an upbeat musical score from Malian, Togolese and French artists.
In French with English subtitles – Recommended ages 7 to adult – or all ages for French speaking audiences.
· Meet the Small Potatoes – World Premiere, USA, Josh Selig. Like This is Spinal Tap for the pre-school set, this musical mockumentary follows a group of singing spuds from humble beginnings on an Idaho potato farm to their meteoric rise to international pop stardom. Animation features the adorably animated characters placed in live action archival settings (1960's era Coney Island in particular is a real treat), and true to the rock-doc form, musical numbers are punctuated with interviews with fans, a former manager, and the southern DJ who helped them to early success.
In English – Recommended all ages
· The Painting – World Premiere English-Language Version, France, Jean-François Languionie. This breathlessly beautiful tale has received unanimous critical praise since it made its US premiere at NYICFF 2012 (as French title Le Tableau) and NYICFF is thrilled to present the first screening of the new English-language version. In this wryly-inventive parable, the characters from a painting burst through the canvas and find themselves in the Painter's studio. The abandoned workspace is strewn with paintings, each containing its own animated world – and in a feast for both the eyes and imagination, they explore first one picture and then another, attempting to discover just what the Painter has in mind for his creations.
In English – Recommended ages 7 to adult
· Pinocchio – North American Premiere, Italy, Enzo D'Alò. Enzo D'Alò's colorful and musical re-telling of this classic tale hews much closer to both the spirit and plot of Carlo Collodi's original story than the Disney version, with Pinocchio remaining for most of the picture a rambunctious and easily-distracted little scamp who dances and trips from one strange adventure to the next in a surreal, Alice in Wonderland-like ride.
In English – Recommended ages 5 to 10
· NYICFF EN ESPANOL –¡Rompe Ralph! (Wreck-It Ralph)– Special Event, USA, Rich Moore. Whether Spanish is your native tongue or you just want to experience a great film a new way, NYICFF is pleased to kick off a new festival section for our Hispanic audience members, with the special Spanish language screening of the multi-award winning, Oscar nominated Wreck-It Ralph. The film will be shown in Spanish, with English subtitles, so all can enjoy!
In Spanish with English subtitles – Recommended ages 6 to adult
· GIRLS' POV – Starry Starry Night – Taiwan, Tom Shu-yu Lin. A day-dreamy seventh-grader whose life seems to be falling apart around her, Mei immerses herself in a fantasy world of her own creation, populated by oversized origami animals and shadowy beasts that tag along with her on what would otherwise be dreary daily excursions. Meanwhile, shuffled from home to home by his mother, troubled newcomer Jay avoids contact with his new schoolmates and becomes an instant target for their derision and taunting. Brought together by their shared loneliness and love of shoplifting, Mei and Jay sneak away to Mei's grandfather's isolated cottage in the countryside in an attempt to escape a reality that nonetheless, comes crashing in on them. Screened as part of NYICFF's Girls' POV program, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In Mandarin with English subtitles – Recommended ages 9 to adult
· GIRLS' POV – Strong! – New York Theatrical Premiere, USA, Julie Wyman. "Can you imagine being huge – but graceful and beautiful and just gorgeous?" Tipping the scales at 300 pounds, Olympic weightlifter Cheryl Hawthorn defies conventional notions of female beauty. Yet, whether she is working with her Olympic trainer, cooking at home with her mom in Savannah, or laughing about the difficulty of doing simple things like buying a dress or finding a chair that won't collapse under her weight – it is precisely her strength and beauty that shine through. In our fitness-obsessed culture, Cheryl's success makes us rethink how we see the female body and expands our notion of what it means to be powerful, healthy, and beautiful. Screened as part of NYICFF's Girls' POV program, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In English – Recommended ages 9 to adult
· Welcome to the Space Show – US Premiere English-Language Version, Japan, Koji Masunari. NYICFF favorite Welcome to the Space Show returns in a brand new English-language version! With an intergalactic cast of thousands, Koji Masunari's colorfully explosive debut feature sets a new high for visual spectacle and sheer inventiveness of character design – in what has to be one of the most gleefully surreal depictions of alien life forms ever portrayed in cinema.
In English – Recommended ages 7 to adult
· Wolf Children – US Continental Premiere, Japan, Mamoru Hosoda. NYICFF is thrilled to present the brilliant third feature from Mamoru Hosoda, whose Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time have established him as one of the world's top creative forces in animation. When college student Hana discovers her new beau is part wolf, she accepts him for who he is. Before long she gives birth to two children, Ame and Yuki, rambunctious bundles of joy who transform into wolves when excited and whose little ears are as adorable as their fangs are sharp. When the neighbors begin to notice their wolf-like tendencies, Hana moves to the countryside and into a dilapidated farmhouse, where each child is free to pursue its wolfish and human sides. Brimming with Hosoda's trademark visual splendor, Wolf Children is his most emotionally resonant film to date, a stunningly animated and heart-felt fable about growing up, growing apart, and the choices faced along the way.
In Japanese with English subtitles – Recommended ages 9 to adult
· Zarafa – France, Remi Benzançon/Jean-Christophe Lie. Inspired by the true story of the first giraffe to visit France, Zarafa is a sumptuously hand-animated and stirring adventure set among sweeping vistas of parched desert, windswept mountains and open skies. Under the cover of night a small boy, Maki, loosens the shackles that bind him and escapes into the desert night. Pursued by slavers across the moon-lit savannah, Maki meets Zarafa, a baby giraffe – and an orphan, just like him – and he vows to protect the giraffe. Wandering alone in the desert, the two are taken under the protection of the Bedouin prince Hassan. Hassan brings them to Alexandria for an audience with the Pasha of Egypt, who promptly orders them to deliver the exotic animal as a gift to King Charles of France.
In French with English subtitles – Recommended ages 7 to adult
SHORT FILM PROGRAMS – Six programs for ages 3 to 18, featuring the best short films from around the world, selected from over 3,000 entries. Jury-selected winners will be eligible for Oscar® consideration in animated and live action short film categories. Full lineup at www.gkids.tv/intheaters
·Shorts For Tots – (Ages 3 to 6)
·Short Films One – (Ages 5 to 10)
·Short Films Two – (Ages 8 to 14)
·Flicker Lounge: For Teens & Adults Only – (Ages 12 to adult)
·Heebie Jeebies: Spooky, Freaky & Bizarre – (Ages 10 to adult)
·Girls' POV – (Ages 10 to adult)ABOUT NYICFF:
Established in 1997, NYICFF is an Oscar®-qualifying event and North America's largest film festival for children and teens. The 2012 edition attracted a sold-out-in-advance audience of 25,000 and generated 100 million media impressions. NYICFF 2013 takes place March 1-24, with 100+ films from around the world, plus gala premieres, retrospectives, filmmaker Q&As, filmmaking workshops, audience voting, and the NYICFF Awards Ceremony. Festival sponsors include the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Club Med, Meredith, HBO, and Scholastic, , with funding support by National Endowment for the Arts, NY State Council on the Arts, and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition to the annual March festival, NYICFF presents year-round film programming both in New York and nationally.


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Anibal Sanchez strikes out 17 thru 8 as Tigers blow out Braves
DETROIT -- Anibal Sanchez approached the dugout with the crowd at Comerica Park roaring its approval, then he took off his hat to acknowledge the fans.
Aware of his pitch count, he realized his night was probably done -- but what an evening it was.
Sanchez struck out 17 in eight marvelous innings for Detroit, confounding the Atlanta Braves in a dazzling performance Friday night and leading the Tigers to a 10-0 victory. Sanchez broke Mickey Lolich's team record of 16 strikeouts when he fanned three in the eighth inning.
"It's hard to get much better than that," manager Jim Leyland said.
Sanchez threw 121 pitches in those eight innings, so there would be no return for the ninth to try to match Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood with 20 strikeouts. In fact, Leyland said he was ready to take Sanchez out after the seventh before letting him pitch a bit longer.
Sanchez was asked after the game about his new place in franchise history. The Tigers have been around for over a century, and nobody has had a game quite like this.
"Amazing," Sanchez said. "I'm just going to keep working. That's not going to stop today."
Clemens and Wood are the only pitchers to strike out 20 in a nine-inning game. Since at least 1921, only Randy Johnson has struck out more than 17 while pitching eight innings or less. Johnson, who was then with Seattle, fanned 18 against Texas in a 1992 game, according to STATS.
Lolich struck out 16 twice in less than three weeks in 1969.
Sanchez (3-1) allowed five hits and one walk Friday.
"I don't think too much about strikeouts and records and things like that," Sanchez said. "I prefer getting some zeros."
Paul Maholm (3-2) allowed eight runs in 3 2/3 innings after giving up only three in his first four starts. Detroit's Matt Tuiasosopo homered and drove in a career-high five runs.
Sanchez kept the Braves off balance all night, striking out at least two hitters in every inning except the fourth. Several of his strikeouts came when he got Atlanta hitters to chase balls down around the dirt. He got Dan Uggla four times and Freddie Freeman and Juan Francisco three times each.
"He was really good. I don't even know if he missed a spot," Uggla said. "Everything was moving, cutting and sinking."
Comerica is no stranger to high strikeout totals. Max Scherzer struck out 15 for the Tigers last year in a home game against Pittsburgh. Justin Verlander's career high is 14.
"We were joking after the game that Anibal is No. 1, I'm No. 2 and Ver is just average," Scherzer said.
When told about that comment, Verlander -- a former MVP and Cy Young Award winner who has thrown two no-hitters -- paused briefly.
"That's OK," he said. "I've got a few other things."
This was Sanchez's night. His performance overshadowed Tuiasosopo's big game with the bat. Tuiasosopo entered the game with 16 RBIs in a major league career that began with Seattle in 2008. He was a somewhat surprising addition to Detroit's roster out of spring training, but he's hit well in limited action with the Tigers.
Tuiasosopo's bases-loaded single in the third drove in two runs and made it 4-0.
Detroit scored six runs the following inning. An RBI double by Victor Martinez made it 7-0 and chased Maholm, and with two on, Tuiasosopo hit a drive over the left-field fence for his first homer since 2010.
After that, it was just a question of how many hitters Sanchez could strike out. He'd already fanned 14 at the start of the eighth, matching Yu Darvish of Texas for the highest single-game total in the majors this season.
Then he left that mark behind, fanning Francisco and Reed Johnson to start the inning. After Andrelton Simmons singled, Uggla struck out, and Sanchez's work was done.
Game notes
According to STATS, Sanchez now holds the record for most strikeouts in a regular-season interleague game. The previous mark was 16, set by Philadelphia's Curt Schilling in 1997 against the New York Yankees and Boston's Pedro Martinez in 1999 against Atlanta. ... Sanchez lowered his ERA to 1.34. Maholm's went up from 1.03 to 3.30. ... Detroit's Miguel Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 10 games. ... Detroit's Rick Porcello (0-2) faces Atlanta's Kris Medlen (1-2) on Saturday.
DET Wins 3-0
Game Information
- Umpires:
- Home Plate Umpire - Mike Muchlinski
- First Base Umpire - Brian Knight
- Second Base Umpire - Dan Iassogna
- Third Base Umpire - Mark Carlson


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As of November 20th, Behmor 1600 roasters are shipping with a new, improved low profile chaff tray. The new chaff tray significantly improves bean visibility, enhances airflow for improved cooling, as well as collects chaff better than its predecessor. It greatly reduces the chance of chaff ignition, save for user error. With this tray you have an unobstructed view of beans roasting when you look through the roaster's door.
The other significant change with the latest shipment is there are no longer two sizes of roasting grids. Instead, the grid formerly known as the 'small grid' is now the standard issue grid. Originally designed with a slightly closer grid pattern to keep smaller or irregularly sized beans from falling out, it became obvious at some point that you could roast anything with this grid. So, the larger spaced grid that used to come with the roasters has been discontinued.
We will continue to offer the small grid as a separate item for owners of previous generations of Behmors. Likewise, we now offer the new chaff tray as a separate it for purchase although they are in short supply for the next couple of weeks.


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Making inexpensive row covers and low tunnels for season extension and natural pest control can be easy and affordable.
During any time of year, a visitor to my Zone 6 garden will find at least a couple of low tunnels at work. Supported by wire hoops or arches made from wire fencing, my garden tunnels are covered with row cover and/or plastic when it's cold to create mini-greenhouses. During winter, they provide protection from wind, hail, and most critters while speeding soil warm-up for summer crops. In summer, I cover the greenhouse tunnels with lightweight row cover or tulle to exclude insect pests such as flea beetles and squash vine borers, and to provide shade for heat-sensitive crops such as lettuce. The cycle begins again when I plant fall-sown onions, such as 'Olympic' and 'Top Keeper,' or hardy greens inside my multipurpose, portable mini-greenhouses.
Anatomy of a Low Tunnel
Any garden tunnel has three parts — the support hoops or arches, the cover, and the pins, ropes or weights to keep the edges secure. For supports, many gardeners use hoops made from stiff, 9- or 10-gauge wire, or they make their own hoops from inexpensive half- to 1-inch diameter poly pipe (the type used for underground water lines). Pipe hoops are more likely to stay erect if they are slipped over sturdy rebar stakes, or into sleeves made from rigid metal or PVC pipe. They can also be attached to the outside of framed garden beds with metal brackets. Tunnels made using fence-wire arches will be more secure if staked down with U-shaped metal pins.
Whether made from wire, plastic pipe or another smooth, non-snagging material, your hoops should be the right length to arch over your garden beds. For 3-foot-wide beds, hoops cut 76 to 80 inches long are best. Hoops are usually spaced 2 to 3 feet apart, so you may need a lot of them. The cheapest way to go is to buy a spool of 9- or 10-gauge wire or poly pipe and cut the hoops yourself. If that doesn't seem doable, consider hoops available online. Expect to pay about $25 for 20, or more for double-wide Super Hoops (about $15 for six).
I have used a set of wire hoops for 10 years and will probably use them for 10 years more. In some instances, however, arches made from wire fencing work better than hoops. The main advantage of fencing arches in winter is their ability to withstand heavy loads of ice or snow without collapsing (as hoop-held tunnels are prone to do).
Several seasons back, I received a letter from a reader in Washington, D.C., who was harvesting 6-inch-wide spinach leaves in February under a snow- and ice-covered tunnel supported by an arch of wire fencing covered with plastic, and I've been using fencing arches ever since. In spring, I can plant compact varieties of peas under an arch-supported mini-greenhouse, and then take off the cover and let the peas use the arch as a trellis after the weather warms. Later, I do the same thing with pickling cucumbers — first using row cover over a fencing arch to exclude insect pests, and then removing the cover to let in pollinators and allow the cukes to ramble up through the arch that's now doubling as a trellis.
Two types of fencing dominate my collection of arches — woven-wire fencing with big, 6-inch openings, and stiff welded wire with 2-by-4-inch openings. I use the more flexible woven wire in situations when I know I'll want to uncover the tunnel and reach in often — to weed carrots or onions, or to harvest leafy greens, for example. I choose the arches made from the smaller fencing if I need to protect newly planted beds from animals or birds. Also, you can staple the plastic to the arch and then the unit is very easy to take on and off as needed. Another option is to construct a rigid, portable mini-greenhouse by connecting electrical conduit pipe to a rectangular foundation frame, as shown in the Image Gallery. This greenhouse tunnel is light and rigid enough to pick up and move.
Making Inexpensive Row Covers for Low Tunnels
Several studies have measured the temperature differences inside and outside low tunnels that are covered with various materials. During a winter in Durham, N.H., temperatures under tunnels covered with row cover and a second layer of plastic were more than 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than outside the tunnels. Additionally, the top 1-1/2 inches of soil inside the garden tunnels never froze, while the outside soil was completely frozen. Studies from The University of New Hampshire have shown that the combination of row cover topped with sheet plastic is the best way to overwinter onions, broccoli, kale and other hardy crops in the chilly Northeast. (Learn more in Use Low Tunnels to Grow Veggies in Winter: Quick Hoops.)
In climates with milder, sunnier winters, be careful when using sheet plastic to cover beds, with or without a layer of row cover underneath. On a sunny, 65-degree day, a plastic-covered mini-greenhouse can quickly heat up to 130 degrees or more, which can be lethal to most plants. From Zone 6 southward, plants are often safer beneath row cover than they would be tucked in with both row cover and plastic.
I like both perforated and slitted plastic row covers, which are made of thin plastic peppered with holes or long rows of vents. These covers capture daytime heat while allowing excess warmth to escape. They admit a little rain, but hail bounces off of them. At night, the covers deter rabbits and deer. Easy to handle and tolerant of substantial wind, most pieces of perforated or slitted plastic get at least three years of use. Best used during the last three weeks before and two weeks after your last spring frost, a season-specific mini-greenhouse is the best way to capture the warmth of sunny spring days for plants that need it, such as cucumbers, melons or early tomatoes. It's also a great way to transition veggies that have become accustomed to the filtered light beneath row covers to the open garden. Expect to pay about $12 for a 6-by-20-foot perforated or slitted plastic row cover.
When it comes to using greenhouse tunnels to exclude summer insects such as flea beetles, squash vine borers and squash bugs, garden hoops are all you need to support lightweight row covers. It is usually best to hold even featherweight covers above the foliage to prevent friction with the tender new plants. To save money and material, consider reusing an old sheet or curtain. You may need stakes to keep covers from sagging. To keep the stakes from punching holes in your covers, slit tennis balls and pop them over the tops of the stakes.
Securing the Edges
Like many tunnelers, I struggled to keep my plastic in place during strong winds. I've learned that making inexpensive row covers and perforated plastic can be held steady with bricks, pieces of firewood, old bicycle inner tubes filled with sand or water, or sandbags. But even when I buried the edges, winds over 40 mph sometimes ruined tunnels, especially those made with unperforated plastic. Then a friend suggested using a second set of garden hoops over the first, on the outside of the row cover — a great technique that I still use to secure various covers over low tunnels.
But truth be told, lash lines work better than outer hoops when it comes to holding down plastic-covered tunnels. To create lash lines, diagonally cross soft nylon line (such as the kind sold for clothesline) over the hoops, threading the rope through hardware in your bed frame (or running board) on the long sides of the bed. In the permanent beds maintained at the Noble Foundation, a nonprofit agricultural institute in Oklahoma, ropes have been installed across low tunnels between pipe hoops, which are spaced about 3 feet apart. In addition to holding the plastic in place, the ropes make it easy to remove the weights from one edge, roll back the plastic for weeding, and then quickly pull it back into place.
My garden hoops and arches stay in the garden year-round, but I store covers that are not being used in a large storage bin. The less time the covers spend in the sun, the longer they will last, and it's great to have them ready and waiting when I need a tunnel fast. Not counting my spades and hoes, my tunnel-building gear is among my most valuable garden equipment.
Check out our best ideas for DIY cold frames, greenhouses and more with this great resource, Year-Round Gardening: Our Best Plans for Greenhouses, Hoop Houses, Cold Frames and More.


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Lockhart State Park
Things to Do
Activities include swimming in the park pool, picnicking, camping , fishing, hiking, nature study, and a nine-hole golf course (the only staff-operated course in the Texas State Park System). The park has a 75-person capacity Group Recreation Hall with a kitchen that can be reserved for group use.
Equipment Rentals
Electric Carts:? 9 Holes - $11; 18 Holes - $16
Golf Club Rental -? $7
Golf Club Pull Cart Rental - $3 Ranger Programs
The park offers a variety of educational opportunities. Check the calendar for upcoming events or contact the park for special tours.
Get more information on the Civilian Conservation Corps, which helped develop this park and numerous others over 70 years ago, by visiting our CCC page that includes the interactive online exhibits and education resource, ?The Look of Nature: Designing Texas State Parks During the Great Depression? and ?A New Deal for Texas Parks."
Fifth Grade Outdoor Laboratory at Lockhart State Park? ??Fall Journal
Fifth Grade Outdoor Laboratory at Lockhart State Park ? Spring Journal
Ask about the Junior Ranger Explorer Packs available for free checkout at the park Area Attractions
Nearby attractions include Palmetto State Park , Bastrop State Park , Buescher State Park and Monument Hill/Kreische Brewery State Historic Sites . Locally, the Emanuel Episcopal Church in Lockhart is one of the oldest Protestant churches in continuous use in Texas. The Lockhart Chamber of Commerce can help you with additional items of interest.


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NYC --- A new graffiti abatement program put forth by the police commissioner has beat cops carrying cans of spray paint to fill in and cover graffiti artists work in an effort to clean up the city --> Many cops are thinking it's a waste of resources, but we're waiting to see someone make a project of it. Maybe instructions for the cops on where to fill-in?
The NYPD is arming its cops with cans of spray paint and giving them art-class-style lessons to tackle the scourge of urban graffiti, The Post has learned.
Shootings are on the rise across the city, but the directive from Police Headquarters is to hunt down street art and cover it with black, red and white spray paint, sources said... READ ON